"By no means am I going to burn my boots. WWE taught me the performance element, and what I would put into characters in WWE is similar to what you'd do in television show. I've been working with an acting coach for almost a year now, and I'm really digging the idea of playing different characters. The WWE was great, it was awesome, and that will always be part of who I am as a performer. But again, I'm also focused on the future."

Getting the WWE release call from Mark Carrano:

"I don't think he enjoyed doing it. I felt bad for him, and I was saying, 'I have other things lined up, I'll be OK.' I knew him well and still think highly of him. That's business. Not everything in life is a bowl of cherries."

Being content with his WWE career:

"As a performer, I will always be grateful to the fans. The fans made me. All I did was go out there and put everything I had into it, and the fans made up their minds. But there are other guys who need to be given a chance. All I can control is fan response, and the fans made up their minds very organically. That was based on my body of work over the years. I look at the WWE and professional wrestling a lot different than most people. If it's an on-going TV show, what more could I have done as a character?"

"I have accomplished everything I want to accomplish. In the entertainment business, we aspire to entertain people. We entertain by our performances. There is an absolutely an athletic element to the WWE and the performances in the WWE. But I look back at my career and feel the spectrum of emotions I have extracted from the audience in a fairly short time. I can say it was a job well done, and now is time to move onto the next thing."